Erik Blair

Last year's Alien vs. Musical was one of the highlights of the festival for me, so when I heard that a longer, full version of the show was happening this year--let's just say this was one of the first tickets I snagged when they went on sale. I wanted to be thrilled all over again. I wanted the additions to be as exciting and surprising and fun as I had found the original show to be last year. And, frankly, I wanted to see how much I enjoyed the original show parts the second time around. ... full review

Catherine Waller should be world-famous right this moment. This is not hyperbole. She should be known around the world right now for being an actor capable of creating vastly different characters who are so incredibly different from each other than you can't remember that she's the same actor. She's as talented with her physical body as Orphan Black's Tatiana Maslany is with facial mannerisms--capable of changing herself 100% into someone or someTHING else simply by changing how she stands,... full review

Improv is a staple of Los Angeles theater, so companies that can find a new way to approach it or a new wrinkle to the game are worth checking out. Enter The Human Test Subjects, an all-women improv group comprised of very talented ladies who all deal with some form of mental illness (from anxiety to depression to PTSD and so on). Watching their preview performance, I was struck by many different reactions. First and foremost--they're damn funny. As you want an improv group to be. In any impr... full review

Let's get this straight up front--this is a show for people who are fans of Game of Thrones. I think you really do need to know the show to have any real chance of enjoying what's happening here. But if you ARE a fan, boy is there a lot to enjoy about this parody musical. The costumes are fantastic. The casting choices are almost unanimously great in look, voice and characterization. There are inspired choices in staging, such as the various dire wolf attacks throughout the show. It's enormous... full review

Why do I love Fringe? Sure, there are one-man/woman shows, comedies, musicals galore. And they're often dynamite, fantastic and genius. But every once in a while, something comes along that REALLY tries to be different, unique, strange and unusual. This year, you're already part of one of those. Because Shine Labs has been quietly watching you from the shadows--and you're a perfect candidate to learn "The Truth". All you need to do is accept your chance to be a test subject during this year's... full review